The time in my support family

~ step out of your comfort zone ~

Hey guys,

On Friday, 04.09.2020 I finished the quarantine. I was a little bit sad... It was really two nice weeks, despite the restrictions.

Quarantine done, and now?

My original host family could not accommodate me and my double placement for private reasons. Therefore, a new family had to be found for us. And all this just 3 days before we all came to the host families...

My support family

On Thursday, one day before our departure, we got a support family.

The family lives in the city of Mallow in County Cork (marked on the map). We will stay there until a final family is found for the whole year. In my transition family, I have a host mother, a host father, two little host children aged 4 and 6, a white Golden Retriever, and 2 cats. They are all very kind and they do everything to make us feel comfortable with them. But unfortunately, I didn't feel comfortable here during the first days... In retrospect, it was simply because of several things that all came at once:

First the 2 weeks of quarantine in Dublin, then the very spontaneous cancellation of the first host family, and the support family that lives in a completely different part of Ireland. When I arrived at the family's home, I had a bit of a culture shock because I was expecting something different and I am used to a pretty luxurious lifestyle in Germany compared to Ireland. And probably I also had a bit of homesickness.

But after a few days, it got better and I got used to everything.

As long as we are here, we also cannot go to school because there is no school in the area that can accommodate us. If there was a school for us here, we would probably stay with the family for the whole year.

What are we doing here all the time?

During the 2 weeks that we are in Mallow, we have still used our time wisely:

We have done various trips. Sometimes with the host family and sometimes just my double placement and I:

On Tuesdays, our host mother took us and the children to the Wildlife Park in Donerail. The kids could play on the playground and my double placement and I could explore the park. We got some drinks from a café van and then explored the park a bit. And I have to say, the park is really beautiful. If it wasn't necessary to always drive there by car, I would go there more often.

On Wednesday, our host mother took us to Blarney in the morning. We planned to visit the castle there and had already bought the tickets online in advance. The problem was that we, at 16 years old, were not allowed into the castle without an adult. And my double placement and I were alone... So we had to figure out how to kill the three hours until we were picked up again. At first, I was afraid that it wouldn't be enough time, but it is more than enough - even if you can visit the castle. We then spent the time in a café, walked up and down the shopping street a few times, and went to the 'Woollen Mills Store' twice, which is there. In this shop, among other things, there is clothing made of Irish wool.

The next day, we took the bus to Cork. It took about 35 minutes. We first walked around the city and went into various shops. Then I wanted to go to 'Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral'. At the cathedral, there was a small maze where the paths on the lawn were marked. So you could see how to walk to reach the goal. But somehow it was funny anyway. Later we accidentally found out on Instagram that two other exchange students from EF are currently in Cork. We met them and spent some time together until we had to take the bus back home.

On Sunday, our host mother took us and the children to Kinsale. If it hadn't been so windy and a little warmer, the kids could have even gotten into the water because we were right by the Irish Sea. There was a restaurant right by the water where we had lunch. And for the first time in my life, I tried mussels! I don't find them as bad as I expected. The taste is actually quite ok, but I find the texture strange. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of me trying the mussel; we only thought of it later. After that, we walked to the 'Charles Fort'. We could visit it without an entrance fee. In the past, there was also a fairy trail for children. There were hidden little doors of fairy houses all over the area that the children had to find. But unfortunately, that doesn't exist anymore. Because of Corona, there was also a one-way system there, but that was not a problem. It was still really nice!

That's it for now from my support family. The next post will probably only come when I am in my final host family and have settled in there.

I hope you enjoyed the post :D

See you and take care!

Davina